Top 5 Shows 11/28 to 12/1

1) It’s the last week of November, and I don’t know what that has to do with anything, but a lede’s a lede, even when it’s leaden or dull or non sequitur. That’s sort of like saying a can of Alpo is a meal humans can eat, but anyway, on Wednesday, there are a couple of free songwriter/open mic events of note: At Off the Record (715 S Main) Tennessee Dixon and Denver Williams are firing up their acoustic guitars from 9pm to 1am, while over at West Side DIY art gallery The Grackle (4621 El Campo), there’s an open mic night for songwriters, poets, and spoken word artists; that event starts at 7pm. Here’s one of the poetry scenes from So I Married an Axe Murderer:

2) On Thursday night, Magnolia Motor Lounge (3005 Morton) hosts a joint birthday party for songwriters Keegan McInroe and Steve Hammond, both of who will perform as part of the Willie Specials, a Willie Nelson tribute act that also features Big Mike, Gary Grammer, Johnny Goodson, and Blake Hestir. Scott Copeland opens the show at 9pm. Cover is $8, show is 21+. I wonder if they’ll play “Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I Die,” and if so, who will sing the Snoop Dogg part:

3) Pantego’s New Main Brewing Co. (3533 Marathon St) has a comedy night on Friday, starring Dallas Observer’s top comic, Wes Corwin. Peng Dang, Julia Sekora, and Jeff Pinkos open the show, and Brian Breckenridge hosts. What do you call a medicore comedian with one leg? A struggling stand-up. Is this thing on? Wocka wocka wocka! Here’s a Wes Corwin bit about Crossfit:

4) If you wanna reflect on how long you’ve been going to bars and watching bands, Lola’s 10th anniversary party is on Saturday, and lemme tell you, as someone who was there for the joint’s first official show… Never mind. Suffice to say, you don’t want to miss this bash, as Fort Worth’s music scene would hardly exist without this club. While the Lola’s of 2018 is physically a lot different than the one I used to kick around in a decade ago, the spirit is pretty much the same: rock, roll, beer, shots, people you love a lot, people you love less, misfits, weirdos, drunks, punks, and the opposite of all of those. Lola’s is an institution, and I’m glad and grateful she’s been kicking around this long. I could go on, but you’d probably rather read about who’s playing: Inside, Holy Moly headlines at 11:45, preceded by the mighty Me-Thinks, Fuzz King Radio, How’s My Driving, Katsuk, and Ghosts of November. Outside, Siberian Traps anchor the Trailer Park stage at 10:45, with Dead Vinyl, Mike Haskins Experience, Programme, Tame Tame and Quiet, and Barber Mack in the opening slots. Carey Wolff and Keegan McInroe play on the small stage (inside the Trailer Park bar) at midnight. Here’s the Sword playing Lola’s back in 2008:

5) Magnolia Motor Lounge is hosting the Dysfunctional Family Christmas Tour on Sunday, starring country singers Sunny Sweeney, Brennen Leigh, and Ward Davis. Each of these has her (or his, as is the case with Davis) take on country music – Sweeney’s rooted in honky tonk traditionalism, but her 2017 album, Trophy kinda sounds like a late ’80s Reba album with production values that lean into the big reverb vibe King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard. I wouldn’t call her music psychedelic country, but it seems to carry that kind of contemporary vibe, which, admittedly, is itself rooted in late s’60s drug rock, but whatever. Leigh’s songs more or less stay in that vintage lane, though her hit, “But You Like Country Music” makes fun of doomsday preppers and Fox News addicts and weed-growing hippies with thoroughly modern snark. Of the three, Davis’ is the most “songwritery” to my ears; his gravelly twang and the pedal steel in his songs are still adequate C&W signifiers, but his music doesn’t seem as beholden to the ’70s formalism that the two ladies he’s playing with do. All in all, this’ll be a good show. Doors are at 6, and the show starts at 7. 21+, $20 cover. Here’s Sunny Sweeney playing at Magnolia Motor Lounge in March. Cody Jinks is in it, too:

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